Craft Beer

This week, it’s five brews from what is arguably the best brewing state in the U.S., California. You can’t throw a stone without hitting a good brewery there. Here are five good beers from Cali worth checking out. Firestone Walker Easy Jack Few states can match Pennsylvania when it comes to having fantastic brewers, but among those that can is California, arguably the top brewing state in the U.S. That’s thanks to folks like Firestone Walker. All the attention goes to their anniversary beers and monsters like Sucaba, but they are masters of the little beer, too. Take Easy Jack session IPA, for example. Easy Jack is the smaller sibling of Union Jack IPA, but being smaller is no knock. The body is light and…Read more

Another Sunday means another batch of beers you’ve got to check out. With winter coming to a close tomorrow, it’s also time to close the door on some deliciously dark beers that drink well when the nights are frigid. Pizza Boy Sunny Side Up These days, it sometimes seems like a brewer can’t make an imperial stout without forcing it into a barrel or adding a little dash of something extra to make it different. That’s why Pizza Boy’s Sunny Side Up is kind of refreshing. It’s “just” an imperial stout – and a delicious imperial stout it is. Inky black and thick as motor oil, it has a glorious, puffy brown head that offers up aromas of burnt coffee and cocoa. The scent is intoxicating….Read more

Great beers take their influences from all over the world. These five brews are made in American, but they wouldn’t exist without the influence of great brewers in places like Belgium and Germany. Allagash White Twenty years ago no one would have dreamed of saying this, but these days the United States damn near seems to be the center of the beer world when it comes to quality, innovation, and invention. Groundbreaking beer efforts didn’t start here, though, and many of our best were inspired by styles pioneered elsewhere. The witbier, for instance. A beer as ubiquitous as Allagash White actually has its origins in the small but beer rich country of Belgium, where the witbier style was created and brought to modern popularity by…Read more

Every Sunday I take a look at five beers worth checking off your list. This week, it’s five beers that taste so good and drink so easily you can get yourself in a world of hurt if you’re not careful, because they are also heavy hitters in the alcohol department. Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra Beer has a rep as being a booze that isn’t “booze” because it’s low enough in alcohol that you can drink it all day. Thing is, that’s not always true. Sometimes a beer will taste as approachable as any other beer but will knock you flatter than a tortilla shell. Take Dogfish Head’s Raison D’Extra, for example. It’s a Belgian-style dark ale based on their Raison D’Etre, which itself is a…Read more

Every Sunday, I take a look at five beers worth checking out. This week, we’re going to dive into some big Double IPAs. This is a style that tends to be big, hoppy, sometimes a touch sweet, and always pretty potent. Cheers! Bell’s Hopslam Some beers are annual Events with a capital “E”. They’re like holidays which half the craft beer world celebrates. One of those beers is Bell’s Hopslam, a big, honey-dosed double IPA that gets drinkers scrambling when it’s released every January. The beer has gotten enough interest so that Bell’s has ramped up production, making it easier to find than ever, but that doesn’t make it any less of a treat. Its robust 10 percent ABV doesn’t try to hide, but the…Read more